Harish Rawat’s wife, Vijay Bahuguna’s son in fray for Lok Sabha polls

New Delhi: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat's wife Renuka Rawat and former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna's son Saket Bahuguna figure in the list of Lok Sabha candidates from Uttarakhand, which was announced by the Congress on Wednesday.

While Rawat's wife has been fielded from Haridwar seat represented by him in the past, Saket will contest from Tehri Garwhal, a constituency from where his father had won in 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

The third candidate finalized by Congress is a senior minister in the state government Harak Singh Rawat, who will contest from the Pauri Garwhal seat represented by SatpalMaharaj, who recently switched over to BJP from Congress.

Vijay Bahuguna had resigned from the seat after becoming the Uttarakhand Chief Minister in 2012. Later, in a Lok Sabha by-poll from the seat, BJP candidate Mala Rajya Laxmi defeated Saket by a margin of over 22000 votes.

Harish Rawat, who had won from Haridwar in 2009 and served as a Union Minister in the UPA government, resigned from the seat earlier this year after being made the ChiefMinister of the state.

While Harak Singh Rawat has been pitted against former chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri from the Pauri Garhwal seat, Harish Rawat's wife is contesting from Haridwar against another former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

Bahuguna was made the chief minister of the state after 2012 Assembly elections despite a virtual rebellion by Rawat camp.

With candidates from three seats announced on Wednesday, the Congress has declared its nominees from all the five Lok Sabha seats in the state.

It has already fielded its sitting MPs KC Singh Baba and Pradeep Tamta from Nainital and Almora seats respectively.

Sources said that the party decided to field Saket Bahuguna from Tehri after his father Vijay Bahuguna refused to contest from the seat.

Jolted by sitting MP from Pauri Satpal Maharaj's sudden defection to BJP, Congress had a tough time selecting a candidate for the Pauri Garhwal seat as it briefly toyed with the idea of fielding Lt Gen (retd) Gambhir Singh Negi but dropped the idea in the view of his political inexperience, sources said.

Harak Singh Rawat fitted the bill, being a seasoned politician and a prominent member of Harish Rawat's cabinet.